There is known an air conditioner as a device for keeping comfortable a certain space such as a room or the like (hereinafter generally referred to as “room”).
The air conditioner is provided with a compressor, a heating heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and a cooling heat exchanger. The air conditioner is configured to blow a cold air generated in the cooling heat exchanger into a room so as to cool the room, or to blow a warm air generated in the heating heat exchanger into a room so as to heat the room.
However, most of the conventional air conditioners are fixedly installed at one place in a room. Therefore, when only one region of the room is to be locally cooled and heated, the conventional air conditioners cannot cope with such a need.
Particularly, when a room is wide, even if it is desired to cool and heat the room locally, there is no way but to cool and heat the entire room. Thus, unnecessary energy consumption occurs due to such a disadvantage.
In addition, since the conventional air conditioner is fixedly installed at one place in a room, the discharge direction of a cold air or a warm air is limited. Thus, the cold air or the warm air may not be blown toward a specific region in a room, or there may be generated a dead zone in which the blowing amount of a cold or a warm air is remarkably low. Due to such a problem, the cooling and heating efficiency of a room is remarkably lowered.
Under the circumstances, various air conditioners capable of locally cooling and heating a specific region in a room and capable of efficiently cooling and heating dead zone have been developed.
As an example thereof, there is known a movable air conditioner. As shown in FIG. 1, the movable air conditioner is configured to move an air conditioning unit 1 that performs an air conditioning operation. After the air conditioning unit 1 is moved to a place where cooling or heating is required, the air conditioning unit 1 is operated to supply a cold air or a warm air.
Specifically, in a heating mode, the warm air discharged from a heating heat exchanger 1a of the air conditioning unit 1 is supplied. In a cooling mode, the cold air discharged from a cooling heat exchanger 1b of the air conditioning unit 1 is supplied. Therefore, it is possible to locally cool or heat a place where air conditioning is required. In addition, it is possible to effectively cool or heat a cooling/heating dead zone.
The movable air conditioner includes a detection unit 3 configured to detect an air conditioning load in a room, a moving unit 5 configured to move the air conditioning unit 1, and a control unit 7 configured to control the moving unit 5 so as to move the air conditioning unit 1 toward the air conditioning load.
Specifically, the control unit 7 uses the detection unit 3 to detect the air conditioning load that requires an air conditioning operation. Then, the control unit 7 controls the moving unit 5 to move the air conditioning unit 1 toward the detected air conditioning load, and operates the air conditioning unit 1 moved toward the air conditioning load.
Thus, the movable air conditioner detects an air conditioning load requiring an air conditioning operation in a room and moves toward the air conditioning load. Then, the movable air conditioner supplies a cold air or a warm air toward the air conditioning load and automatically cools or heats the air conditioning load.
Such a conventional movable air conditioner is configured to detect an air conditioning load and to perform a cooling/heating operation on the basis of the detected air conditioning load. Therefore, when the detected air conditioning load does not coincide with the region to be actually cooled or heated, it is impossible to cool or heat the region to be actually cooled or heated.
In a room, a region where cooling or heating is most required is a space where a person is present. However, the conventional movable air conditioner is designed to perform a cooling or heating operation on the basis of an air conditioning load. Thus, there may be a case where the movable air conditioner moves to a place where an air conditioning load is high, for example, a window or a door, and then cools or heats such a place.
Due to such a disadvantage, the conventional movable air conditioner frequently suffers from an operation error in which an unnecessary region is cooled or heated.
In the conventional movable air conditioner, even in a cooling mode, a warm air (hereinafter referred to as “waste warm air”) continues to be generated from the heating heat exchanger 1a and, even in a heating mode, a cold air (hereinafter referred to as “waste cold air”) continues to be generated from the cooling heat exchanger 1b. The waste warm air or the waste cold air thus generated may be discharged toward a person.
Particularly, when the air conditioning unit 1 is moved toward the air conditioning load in the room by controlling the moving unit 5, the waste air exhaust port 1c of the air conditioning unit 1 for discharging the waste cold air or the waste warm air may face the human body. In such a case, the waste cold air or the waste warm air may be discharged toward the human body through the waste air exhaust port 1c. Thus, the person existing around the waste air exhaust port 1c may feel unpleasant.